Sweater Article

"Surprises await the teacher who expects children to give up their conceptions at the first sign of a discrepancy. Stubbornness, a trait not limited to children, causes students to grasp at straws, O'Brien found." What a statement! When I first started reading this article I chuckled at the misconceptions that the children have over sweaters and hats.  It makes complete sense that they would see it in that light, but what surprised me was the fact that they held onto it even after testing it the first time and realizing the temperature didn't change.  So this idea that misconceptions are hard to turn is really sinking into my brain.  I have this notion to believe that once we show the students, it will work like magic. This of course I know is naive, but never the less something I seem to get caught up on.  What I think sometimes I look past is that it is okay if their understanding doesn't come all at once and over night.  Maybe that is the beauty of it all.  I suppose it would make my job far less exciting if students just dropped all their ideas of how things are and believe all they are told.  What is the fun in that?

I also find it interesting that often times, as the article says, that is isn't necessarily that children really don't grasp the idea but more stubbornness and unwillingness to admit their misunderstandings or that their theories are possibly wrong.  Another thing the article talks about is the idea that what we as teachers can very much influence a students ability for conceptual change.  I have never considered that vocabulary can affect a students perception.  The article uses the example of "warm clothes". I can fully understand the confusion it would bring kids and make them result to calling it magic or even just a simple statement of "hot and cold are sometimes strange."

As a teacher I hope to keep these things in mind when teaching science.  I can remember so many things that I was stubborn about.  A major example: When I was in 5th or 6th grade maybe, I remember getting in a fight with a good friend of mine on the issue that bugs are not animals.  Bugs could not possible be animals because they are bugs.  Bugs, plants, and animals were living things.  It wasn't until my teacher came over and broke us up and had me look up what it meant to be animal.  Sure enough I was wrong.  I hope to be a teacher that can create an environment for inquiry and hopefully because I am coming in well prepared this wont be a hard goal to reach.